Murray
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Everything posted by Murray
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Progress continues on the boat. But suddenly there are 'off-site' issues to consider; fittings, mast base plugs, sails - so actually a lot of progress has been made, only so much to see... And now, with great sadness, starting two weeks holiday in Fiji.... Nothing against Fiji, just I want to actually finish and get on the water...
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Why not both? Just make the powerboat smaller. The older I get, the bigger my powerboat is getting - harder to manage on land, still not big enough on the water. Question on your Lapwing; I think I read somewhere you did not bother with a mast tube for the mizzen, just the main? Would you change that? (I've made the tube for the main, just wondering how lazy I am thinking...
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you're thinking of selling your beautiful craft Dave? Time for a change?
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Your wife is probably right - at least for you...! One of the things I appreciate on this site is the honest, direct comments made. And I consider them carefully - thus the three 'Silsbies' now installed. @hirilonde has had many useful things to say too. I guess I could try and set up a jury rigged sprit and see what I think - just a question of time - something I may not have as much of as I expected. So I'll start with what I know, and keep an open mind. Cheers Don.
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Good question Ken......! I guess I'm a stubborn old guy who has fixed ideas about rigs. I've sailed cats with wishbones, windsurfers with wishbones, keelboats with all sorts of boom configurations, racing dinghies with booms, and a number of racing days on a Hobie which has no boom at all. Years ago I sailed OPTI's which have a sprit, and I freely admit I couldn't tell the difference in speed one tack to the other. I even tried a windsurfer with a single sprit, and the sail cut into two pieces; one above and one below the boom. That was a terrible experiment. In all of the sailing I've done, it's always been performance oriented, and in all of it, I've found booms are good. True, when they hit you on the head, it can be unpleasant; the bigger the boat, the more unpleasant it becomes. But they allow great sail control. Even the cat with wishbones was interesting in that we ended up putting a vang system on it so we could get sufficient leech tension. Without, it looked like the Hobie with massive twist in the sail which creates drag and makes control difficult. With the Lapwing, the sails are small so you can probably get sufficient leech tension by using a sprit reasonably easily. And there are those who argue that the sprit does not make a noticeable difference to performance - especially in a cruising type of craft. I accept that a sprit has advantages in an application like the Lapwing, but as a guy who in a previous life made hundreds and hundreds of windsurfing sails, and many sails for land yachts and various Moths, everything was geared to making the most efficient sail, the easiest to control sail and the fastest sail possible. And in my experience, that's booms. So it's just something I had to do. And I freely acknowledge that a Lapwing provides 'sparkling' performance, rather that the ultimate racing dinghy performance - hell - witness the 'brake' in the bottom two planks; the garboard and the next plank trap water and force it through a narrower slot as it gets towards the stern - acting like a brake. I acknowledge I have much to learn about cruising boats, slowing down and enjoying the ride, but now retired, I didn't feel ready to look up and see a sprit and feel good inside. Oh, and I had spare booms...! I am using a sail plan very similar to standard, I'll just put slightly different seam shaping in and since the masts are stiff carbon - I'll use a little less luff round - especially at the head. Why carbon masts? Well I had them in the loft too (experimental carbon masts for Lasers) so rather than use my stock of Alaskan yellow cedar on making masts, I thought maybe I should keep that for my next boat...? Sorry that's a long winded reply, but while your question is simple, the answers were not. At least, not for me.
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Well this is still progressing slowly... Seating glued down and resin fill coated. This was a bit of an experiment since the ply was pretty rough on the surface, I've tried filling it with a 33% addition of 414 filler. Quite a bit of sanding required but now the surface is smooth. And the controversial booms cut to length. I had a spare RS Aero boom from when I was sailing them. Very light, stiff, with rope securing all fittings. I found a second boom for the mizzen - also an Aero unit. Sorry B&B - not the way you recommend, but... Does highlight the foredeck leaving only a very shallow angle for an effective vang system. Probably sufficient - as long as there is not too much wind, maybe an excuse to see if I can rig up a Gnav system. (Vang but upside down - yes a strut on a carriage secured to the top of the boom, t'other end attached to the side of the mast. A rope pulling the carriage toward the mast will force the boom down. Sounds a bit like a sprit did I hear you say....? No such issues with the mizzen. Really just the carlins to set in place then the decks can be installed. I've got a bit of Jarrah I've cut into strips so I can laminate a gunwale and a decorative rubbing strip at the bottom edge of the #8 strake. Hatches to complete, but now I'm this far along, I'll order sails on Monday - and a trailer.
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I better have a look at that - thanks Don.
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Not sure these pictures are loading correctly... if not, 2490 is a flush trim bit at work. I haven't used one before, but they sure make short work of trimming the seat edges. Filleting done. I haven't yet put the front seats down yet - I was vaguely toying with running control lines for the main (vang and downhaul) under the seats then back up so close to hand. Pros and cons, but maybe better to do that under the side decks, rather than puncture holes in the floatation compartment... IMG_2508.heic IMG_2490.heic IMG_2492.heic
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I watched Russell Brown's series on epoxy (Off Centre Harbour) - so yes, three hot coats. I noticed Dave did the same in his build of Uinen too. Now ready to glue the seats in... IMG_2493.heic
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So the undersides of the seats are resin covered...
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Next step I'll resin the underside of the seats, fix them in and get out a flush trim bit to clean up the edges. Then - well to quote @hirlonde - a whole lot more; decks, mast steps, hatch covers, sanding, a wee bit more sanding, paint, but I think I can see a boat emerging...
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It would seem Don was right; a Silsbe is a very useful place for putting things as you can see in the second photo.
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So I wrote quite a little section on the 'Silsbes' - I thought it useful to add a Wikipedia entry describing the 'Silsbe' as the framework for a self draining hatch. It seemed easy but after a little while I thought it was quite a lot more complicated than I imagined and so I had a beer instead.
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Got it thanks. I guess the thicker the gasket material the better. I've got 3mm lying around but 10 would certainly be a lot more forgiving. Thanks Don.
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Well the first of the Silsbes is glued in - spot the deliberate mistake anyone? I decided rather than having the support arms for the Silsbes going aft to the transom, there's a much large gluing surface with the support arm going athwartship, and the rebate in the longitudinal ply bulkheads is very secure and able to take some weight. I can't see any downside - so - done! Ken I like your priorities - I'm looking forward to completing this project and getting on the water.
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Don can you explain that - I assume you are saying it's difficult to get the front face of the hatch (not the seat top) evenly spaced around the longitudinal stringers? Is that correct? If yes, what is the difficulty? Speaking of hatches, I see in the plans, the front of the side hatches is around 130mm back from the rear of the centreboard thwart. Looking at the centre of buoyancy - I assume you sit right about there sailing single handed? So in the opinion of those who own a Lapwing, is there a better position for the hatches so you are not sitting on the piano hinge? meantime really important decisions are to be made.... name! many folk in NZ call their craft after Maori names. We don't have a truely native lapwing in NZ, but I'm heading towards Manurere (Man-you-rary) which is a general term for flying birds...
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Wow - that's brilliant!
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Thanks Dave - looks a great idea. Nice detailing work around the compass - can you send a shot of that too please?
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OK @Don Silsbe - I'm taking your advice - outside coamings are now gluing up. Just for fun, I made them out of scrap 1/4" ply, 3 layers, with the inside layer 1/4" deeper so thwarts/seats can be set against them, while lying on top of the other two layers. Not sure I'll actually use this idea, but if I don't like it, I can cut the extra off... The rest of the bits are cut out ready to assemble. I knew it was a fiddly little job!
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@Hirilonde Dave can you share a pic of the drawer you put in? Sounds like a very good idea.
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@Paul356 Paul any chance you can send a photo of how you have arranged your mizzen sheeting? Cheers, Murray
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@Don Silsbe you knew it was laziness..! OK - I'll ponder it a little more. Certainly a lot easier to do it now than later.